LANSING – For a peek at the diversity of Michigan industries, take a jaunt through downtown Lansing.

As you walk along West Ionia Street, you’ll see the Michigan Association of Chiropractors, a group that promotes and advocates for the chiropractic industry.

A few steps away are the groups representing optometrists, community colleges and county road associations. Walk a few more blocks and you’ll find headquarters for associations of manufacturers, restaurateurs, retailers, sheriffs, bankers, pharmacists and more.

Nearly every industry in the state has an association to represent it, said Taylor Benavente. He would know – he is the association industry advocate for the Michigan Society of Association Executives, which describes itself as the “association for associations in Michigan” on its website.

The people who run associations and advocate for industries, causes and clients at the state Capitol building are helping to power the state’s economy, Benavente said.

“We are kind of like motor oil,” he said. “We’re behind the scenes, keeping the engine running.”

The advocacy industry – including the communications agencies and lobbyists they employ – is a unique one in Lansing, helping to shape the economy and culture of the city that serves as the state capital.

Why Lansing is an ideal place for lobbyists

It's also a growing sector of the state's economy, according to state records. The number of lobbyists has steadily increased since the ’90s. In 1998 there were 2,202 lobbyists and lobbyist agencies registered in Michigan. In 2017, there were 2,954.

Downtown Lansing is chock full of associations and advocacy groups because a headquarters near the Capitol building gives them easier access to the legislators and state executives who set budgets, write bills and draft regulations. That makes a Lansing address valuable to those advocates, said Ken Cole, a lobbyist at Governmental Consultant Services, Inc, and means the city is home to people with a diverse set of beliefs and priorities.

“It is the center of our state’s democracy,” he said. “It is where people of different faiths, different ideological perspectives, different races, different genders come to do the state’s business. It is the place where we eat together, pray together, congregate together, fight, argue, laugh.

“I think that lobbyists and Lansing are almost synonymous, just given the nature of what the city of Lansing represents to our democracy. It’s kind of the center of it all.”

The advocacy world has changed since the 1990s, when the state adopted term limits for state legislators and executives, Cole said. Now, lobbyists have to work harder to teach new rounds of politicians about their causes.

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Name: Vicki Hamilton-Allen | Age: 47 | Works at: Habitat for Humanity Capital Region, executive director | Lives in: Williamston| Keep an eye on her because: Habitat for Humanity leverages the power of volunteers to make decent, affordable housing a reality for millions of people across the world. As the executive director of local chapter of the non-profit, Vicki Hamilton-Allenoversees home building and repair programs to meet the needs of low-income people in the greater Lansing region. Courtesy of Vicki Hamilton-Allen

Name: Brian Gilmore | Age: 56 | Works at: Michigan State University, associate professor of law and housing clinic director | Lives in: Okemos| Keep an eye on him because: Brian Gilmore fights to give disenfranchised people a fairer fight in housing court. He's an associate professor of law at Michigan State University and executive director of the university's Housing Clinic. Gilmore says he uses his work to advocate for "the ordinary person." Courtesy of Brian Gilmore

Name: Jenine Grainer-Iverson | Age: 65 | Works at: Airbnb host | Lives in: Okemos| Keep an eye on her because: After retiring from her job as a real estate appraiser. Jenine Grainer-Iverson began moonlighting as an Airbnb host. She rents out the first floor of a home in downtown Lansing for about $90 a night and has earned the app's coveted status of "superhost." Grainer-Iverson is one of millions of people who use the platform; its popularity is a sign of how the sharing economy has the power to transform the tourism and housing industries. Courtesy of Jenine Grainer-Iverson

Name: Clare Luz | Age: 61 | Works at: Michigan State University | Lives in: Grand Ledge | Keep an eye on her because: Luz is an assistant professor and a founding director of AgeAlive, a recently established program within the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. Last year, she received a $500,000 grant to train and increase the number of personal care aides who provide in-home health care. She'll be one of the people leading discussions about aging in the state and elsewhere. Courtesy image

Name: Tiffany Hughes | Age: 34 | Works at: McLaren Greater Lansing | Lives in: East Lansing | Keep an eye on her because: As the director of business development for surgical services, Hughes runs the business side of the operating rooms. That means she'll play a big role in helping McLaren transition to its new hospital. Courtesy image

Name: Ryan Holmes | Age: 34 | Works at: Waverly Middle School, Special Education Paraprofessional/Freelance Multi Media Artist | Lives in: South Lansing | Keep an eye on him because: Along with wanting to focus on getting arts and culture in areas that are lacking in Lansing, he is also focused on kids. His goal is to be able to go into parts of the city, with a place maker mindset, and to partner with community groups to get the kids involved. Courtesy photo/Ryan Holmes

Name: Josh Holliday | Age: 25 | Works at: Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) | Lives in: Haslett | Keep an eye on him because: He hascreated new placemaking programs for LEAP and the region, such as Engage, which is designed to assist communities pursue placemaking projects identified by residents and leaders. He also is chair of Lansing 5:01. Courtesy photo/Josh Holliday

Name: Dennis Hinrichsen | Age: 66 | Works at: Western Michigan University this semester as a visiting professor teaching a graduate poetry workshop. He also serves as the Lansing Poet Laureate until May 2019. | Lives in: Lansing | Keep an eye on him because: He's Lansing's first poet laureate and has created many placemaking programs during his tenure, such as Sidewalk Poetry, which solicited poems about people's connection to four neighborhoods in Lansing: Old Town, REO Town, the Stadium District and the East Side. Southern Indiana Revew Press

Name: Joel Ferguson | Age: 79 | Works at: Ferguson Development LLC | Lives in: Lansing | Keep an eye on him because: Ferguson and his partner Frank Kass are planning a $242 million redevelopment of the former Red Cedar Golf Course along Michigan Avenue near the campus of Michigan State University. RJ Wolcott / Lansing State Journal

Name: Jeff Deehan | Age: 34 | Works at: Principal at Dymaxion Development and principal at Urban Systems | Lives in: Lansing | Keep an eye on him because: Deehan is working on a number of development projects in the Lansing area.that have the potential to transform the way people view the Lansing area. Courtesy / Jeff Deehan

Name: Gregory Butts | Age: 57 | Works at: Lansing Community College as a professor and as lead faculty in Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Programs. | Lives in: Williamston | Keep an eye on him because: Following retirement from General Motors, Butts decided to go back to school — as a professor. Now, Butts is using his background in manufacturing and engineering to prepare the next workforce. Courtesy / Gregory Butts

Name: Karlin Tichenor | Age: 31 | Works at: Lansing School District | Keep an eye on him because: Tichenor leads the Lansing School District’s Office of School Culture, which is working to reduce traditional barriers to education by focusing on positive discipline and reinforcement. Courtesy / Karlin Tichenor

Name: Jillian Johnson | Age: 20 | Attends: Olivet College as a junior majoring in psychology with a minor in business administration | Keep an eye on her because: Johnson is a Lansing Promise scholar, a 2016 graduate of Everett High School, who wants to help other Lansing students see college as an option and persist to graduation. Courtesy / Jillian Johnson

Name: Lisa Corless | Age: 53 | Works at: AF Group | Lives in: Okemos | Keep an eye on her because: As the new president and CEO of AF Group, Corless is leading one of the largest insurance companies in the region. Courtesy / Lisa Corless

Name: Ben Rathbun | Age: 26 | Works at: Rathbun Agency | Lives in: Lansing | Keep an eye on him because: Rathbun's family has been in the insurance industry since 1956. Now, Rathbun, an independent insurance agent, is initiating the family business transition into the third generation. Courtesy / Ben Rathbun

Name: Alicia Guevara Warren | Age: 35 | Works at: Kids Count | Lives in: Delta Township | Keep an eye on her because: Alicia Guevara Warren knows how to use data to help legislators draft bills that will help children and families. Her goal is to be the bridge between the community and policy makers. Courtesy of Michigan League for Public Policy

Cole said GCSI lobbyists take on clients from utility and insurance companies to cities and universities, and have to learn to quickly master the complicated issues facing each group and then advocate for legislation that will help.

That could be why lobbyists tend to be personable, Cole said. Building relationships with clients and legislators is crucial to doing a good job.

Lobbyists are sometimes saddled with an undeserved bad reputation, Cole said. He sees them as performing an important democratic exercise – petitioning the government.

“If you’ve ever called your state representative, your state senator or your city councilman and asked them to do anything by way of public policy, you lobbied them,” Cole said. “The only difference is that I get paid to do it on a consistent basis.”

Not all lobbyists are working on behalf of corporations or industries. Many are representing causes, such as maternal and child health or employment.

In Monica Martinez' case, the cause is energy accessibility. Martinez, President of Ruben Strategy Group, works with the Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm, a group that aims to help people who need access to energy assistance and weatherization programs.

Much of the coalition's work is about education, Martinez said. The group wants to teach legislators and communities about the energy assistance programs available in the state, and remind policy makers that staying warm can be insurmountably expensive for some of their constituents.

"We want people to recognize there's a need, and even though we have a lot of great programs within Michigan... there still may be people who fall through the cracks," she said.

The Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm is headed to the Capitol building on Dec. 11, according to the Capitol events calendar. Members will be there to provide information about energy assistance needs and programs.

They're one of many groups that will stake out in or near the Capitol in coming months. According to the Capitol's calendar, there are eight events scheduled in February alone, many of them advocacy-based, such as Michigan Sugar Lobby Day on Feb. 13.